Road to UFC 228 – Woodley vs Till

Tyrone Woodley vs Darren Till - UFC 228

We are only a few weeks away from UFC 228 in Dallas, Texas (8 September 2018) with the main headline fight being for the UFC welterweight belt between the champion Tyron Woodley and the UK’s own Darren Till.

Before the fight was even scheduled there has been controversy because the UFC interim welterweight champion Coby Covington, who was due to fight Tyron Woodley to unify the welterweight championship, was unable to make the date of the fight due to surgery – so is being stripped of the interim belt by UFC president Dana White.

Interim UFC welterweight champion - Colby Covington

Darren Till was offered the fight in his place and took straight to social media to persuade Tyron Woodley to accept the fight. Tyron Woodley was clearly caught off guard as he had not been told about developments concerning Colby Covington – but the fight was finally agreed to and will take place in Dallas, Texas on 8 September 2018.

There has been a lot of interest in Darren Till, especially with a victory over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and a controversial win over former number one contender Stephen “Wonder boy” Thompson, for which he missed weight by a considerable amount.

(top) Till vs Cerrone (bottom) Till vs Thompson

Critics have condemned him for missing weight and acting unprofessionally, and even questioned whether he actually should have won a decision against Stephen “Wonder boy” Thompson, but love him or hate him, he is an aggressive and exciting fighter.

Tyron Woodley fans will be hoping the UFC welterweight champion has fully recovered from his surgeries and is looking to improve on what can be described as disappointing performances against Damian Maia and Stephen “Wonder boy” Thompson.

OptimalMMA.com ran a poll shortly after the fight was announced which showed the challenger Darren Till was favourite to win the UFC welterweight belt.

optimalmma poll on twitter just after the UFC 228 annoucement

This was quite surprising as it seems that UFC and MMA fans are quick to forget how good Tyron Woodley was leading up to becoming the UFC welterweight champion, after beating Robbie Lawler. His explosive power and wrestling seems to have been underestimated.

At the UFC 25 year’s press conference, President Dana White made the pair face off and I was shocked at the incredible size, height and reach difference between Darren Till and Tyron Woodley.

Tyron Woodley and Darren Till face off - UFC 228

After the press conference optimalmma.com ran another poll to see if our readers had changed their minds. This time no one was backing Tyron Woodley to retain his UFC welterweight belt and more people became concerned about Darren Till missing the weight limit again.

optimalmma.com twitter poll after the face off

Darren Till answered questions recently about the upcoming welterweight title fight against Tyron Woodley and he came across as calm and confident. Darren Till acknowledged Colby Covington did deserve a title shot, but said he could not turn down the opportunity to win the welterweight belt – but agreed to fight Colby Covington after he beats Tyron Woodley.

Optimalmma.com predictions

I am really looking forward to this fight, and being from the UK myself I may be a bit bias, but I think the size and reach difference between Darren Till and Woodley is going to be the deciding factor in this fight.I think Tyron Woodley may struggle getting into range to do significant damage and complete takedowns, and that why I believe Darren Till will win at UFC 228.

However, I will never write off a champion, because they have the belt for a very good reason. If Darren Till does not respect the power in Tyron Woodley's hands, then he may wake up to a nasty shock.

Thanks as always for reading. Let us know your thoughts

The Optimal MMA team

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